Test - Meddlers
by PrehistoricEchoes
Summary: A test chapter for a Worm/Mass Effect crossover. Just getting some ideas out of my head is all.


**A/N:** For the record, I really don't have any intention of continuing this story. I just wanted to get some ideas out of my head and on paper. I could come back to it someday, but that's unlikely. Anyway, this is another canon-weld, similar to Corrupt Elements in some respects, transplanting material from one universe into another.

Speaking of Corrupt Elements, I have been doing some work on a possible sequel, so keep an eye out. It might appear shortly.

* * *

 **Location: Human Colony Shanxi**

 **Year: 2157AD, Human Calendar**

"Lawbreakers!" he shouted at the battle, ships and soldiers burning for him. "You pathetic monsters! You killed him! You took him from me!"

"Lieutenant Arterius!" a soldier shouted, scrambling over the rubble of their crashed drop ship. "We've been ordered to withdraw."

Saren ignored him, focusing on the horrible scene before him. Saren looked down, his brother lying at his feet, though no longer looking like the turian he'd known since birth. Instead, his brother was a charred corpse, prone in a pool of black-blue blood. "You took him from me!" Saren shouted at the city, gunfire echoing in the distance. A flying shape could be seen passing between the buildings.

How had this gone so wrong?

Only a few days before had they discovered this species. "Humans" were what they called themselves, though they were little more than pink, hairless mammals that reproduced far too quickly. A scout had caught them opening a mass relay, a grievous offence by Citadel Law. An overzealous officer made the decision to open fire, hoping to bring a swift and decisive end to this species' rampant crimes.

What followed was the most brutal slaughter of turian battalions since the Krogan Rebellions.

These humans had powerful biotics or something far more sinister in their ranks. In this colony alone, a girl with the ability fly and toss tanks like they were made of plastic had torn through their cruisers and legions of men, taking with her hundreds of lives. And that was before the golden skinned one showed up.

That was before Saren's brother died.

In the city, he could see him. The golden skinned man. The one the humans called "Scion." A brilliant flash of light burst ahead of Scion, making a beam that cleaved a frigate in half.

Saren fell to his knees and screamed. This was going to be a victory. But this? This bloody defeat? His brother dead? It was… it was…

 _He was somewhere else. Darkness swallowed Saren. Then, light. Two beings could be seen, moving about each other. Dancing almost. To him they looked like Thresher Maws, but far larger._

 _Tiny sparks of light trailed behind the mysterious entities as they went about their dance. It was calm. Almost serene. There was another flash of light._

The battlefield returned to his vision as Saren gasped. Dizziness took him, and he joined his brother on the ground.

"Lieutenant!" the soldier cried, grabbing Saren's unconscious form and hefting him over his shoulder. "We're going!"

Saren took one final look at the human colony, which was surrounded by the wrecks of a dozen ships. As the darkness took him, he vowed that he would make the humans pay. And pay. And pay.

* * *

 _Twenty six years later…_

"Arcturus Prime relay is in range," Jeff "Joker" Moreau said, smiling as he typed at the ship's controls. This was his dream. Flying a state-of-the-art stealth ship for some of humanity's greatest heroes as it left on its maiden voyage out of Sol. "Initiating transmission sequence."

The planet Neptune flew past them at blinding speed, barely distinguishable from the rest of space. Jeff entered coordinates for transfer in the mass relay. "We are connected. Calculating transit mass and destination."

He cracked his fingers as the console pinged, verifying that their transfer was set. "Relay is hot. Acquiring approach vector. All stations secure for transit."

He heard footsteps behind him. Commander Jane Shepard was on deck, and he could feel it. Inside, the pilot trembled a bit. She was a renowned soldier, known for some of the greatest acts of military daring in recent history. Her actions during the slaver attack on Elysium were known galaxy-wide. Despite having worked with her for the past few weeks, she still held a presence on the ship.

Jeff would have turned to glimpse her, but he needed to focus. They were on approach to the mass relay, and that required his full attention.

"Board is green. Approach run has begun," he said, hiding a vague waver in his voice.

Blue light filled the bridge as the mass relay came into view. The gigantic, five-kilometer long tweezer-shaped megastructure was what granted all races in the galaxy interstellar travel, and piloting a ship through them was a serious undertaking.

"Hitting the relay in three, two, one…" He smirked. This was the fun part.

A bolt of energy flashed out from the relay's whirling core, enveloping the ship in light. In an instant, the small frigate had been shunted lightyears away, coming to a smooth stop in a completely different star system.

He began running a diagnostic of the systems. "Thrusters, check. Navigation, check. Internal emissions sink engaged, check. All systems online. Drift… just under fifteen-hundred k."

"Fifteen-hundred is good," said the turian behind him. "Your captain will be pleased."

The pilot scoffed as the turian turned and left. That alien was the downside of the ship, walking around with a sense of grave seriousness to him, constantly talking with a stick up his ass.

"I hate that guy," Jeff said flatly.

"Nihlus gave you a compliment," his co-pilot, a marine named Kaidan Alenko, said. "So you hate him?"

"You remember to zip up your jumpsuit on the way out of the bathroom, that's good," Joker said. "I just jumped us across the galaxy to hit a target the size of a pinhead. That's incredible. Besides, Spectres are trouble. I don't like having them on board. Call me paranoid."

"You're paranoid. The Council helped fund this project, they have a right to send someone to keep an eye on their investment."

"Yeah, that's the _official_ story. But only an idiot believes the official story."

"You always expect the worst, don't you Joker," Shepard chimed in.

Joker snorted. "Well, bad feelings are an occupational hazard. We don't go anywhere unless there's a good reason so…what're we doing here?"

The ship's communication system cracked to life as the voice of the Captain, David Anderson, pounded through the speakers. "Joker, status report."

"System's all functional, Captain," the pilot replied. "Stealth system's engaged. Everything looks solid."

"Good. Find a comm buoy and link us to the network. I want us sending mission reports _before_ we reach Eden Prime."

"Aye, aye, Captain." Joker then added, "Better brace yourself, Sir, I think Nihlus is coming to see you."

"He's already here, Lieutenant."

Everyone on the bridge could hear Joker wince.

Anderson continued, unfazed. "Tell Commander Shepard to meet me in the comm room for our debriefing. We've run into some…complications." Anderson cut the link.

"You get that, Commander?" Joker asked.

"Captain sounds angry. Something must've gone wrong with the mission."

Joker chuckled. "Captain always sounds like that when he's talking to me."

"Can't possibly imagine why," Kaiden muttered.

Shepard left the two in the bridge, moving to the back of the ship. Like Joker, she too was enjoying the new experience. Their ship, the _Normandy_ , was the first of its kind. A stealth ship capable of dropping in and out of combat zones without appearing on sensors of any kind. It was a miracle of engineering, and this mission was going to test if it was up to snuff.

She reached the conference room, a circular chamber with chairs facing a wall filled with holographic projectors and viewscreens. Nihlus was already waiting for her when she got there, his brown, plated skin slightly iridescent in the room's lights. His armor was dark black, and lines along its structure gave off a deep red glow.

"Ah, Commander, I was hoping to talk to you before this mission begins," he said.

"What about?" she asked.

"I'm interested about this world we're going to – Eden Prime. I've heard it's quite beautiful."

"They say it's a paradise."

"Yes, paradise," Nihlus echoed. "Serene, tranquil, safe. Eden Prime has become something of a symbol for your people, hasn't it? Proof not only that humanity can establish colonies across the galaxy, but also protect them. But how safe is it really?"

"Do you know something, Nihlus?" Shepard asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Your people are still newcomers, Shepard," the turian said. "And while you have many of these, what do you call them, 'parahumans,' the galaxy can still be a very dangerous place. Is the Alliance truly ready to confront everything it has to offer?"

Anderson entered the room, straightening his navy blues. "I think it's about time we told the Commander what's really going on," he said.

Nihlus nodded. "This mission is far more than a simple shakedown run, Shepard."

"I thought as much," the commander replied. "There had to be something you weren't telling us."

"We're making a covert pickup on Eden Prime," Anderson said. "That's why we needed the stealth systems operational. A research team uncovered an artifact on the planet's surface, some kind of beacon, during an excavation. It was prothean."

"The protheans?" Shepard asked, somewhat astounded. That ancient race had vanished millennia ago, but their technology was the reason every species, including humanity, was able to spread to the stars.

Anderson nodded. "This is big, Shepard. The last time humanity made a discovery like this, it jumped our technology ahead thousands of years. Eden Prime doesn't have the facilities to study something like this. We need to bring it back to the Citadel for proper study."

"Obviously this discovery goes beyond human interest," Nihlus said. "This discovery could benefit every species in Citadel Space. And the beacon is not the only reason I'm here, Shepard."

"Nihlus wants to see you in action, Commander. He's here to evaluate you," Anderson said, almost menacingly.

Shepard smirked. "Guess that explains why I bump into him every time I turn around."

Nihlus nodded. "Humanity has shown potential, you more so than most. That's why I put your name forward for candidacy in the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance arm of the Citadel."

"A Spectre candidacy," Anderson said. "Humanity has been pushing for this for a long time Shepard. The Alliance needs this."

"It's…an honor," Shepard said, a little flustered. The Citadel Council had never before seriously considered a human for being part of their most powerful division.

"There's still a long process to getting you verified for candidacy," Nihlus said. "I need to see you in action, Commander. Eden Prime will be the first of several missions together."

Anderson was about to speak, but was cut off by the intercom.

"Captain, we have a situation," Joker said, his voice fighting to hide a panicked tone. "Emergency distress beacon for Class-S threats only. Eden Prime's throwing an Endbringer alarm."

"Endbringer?" Nihlus asked.

"They're monsters that started attacking Earth back in 2040," Shepard explained, her face going pale at the mere thought of the creatures. "They started spreading to colonies not long we began expanding outwards."

"Shit," Anderson said. "Anything with it, Joker?"

"Uh, we got a visual on the ground. Patching it through."

The viewscreen lit up with the image of a team of marines struggling in the center of a large city. Bullets whizzed past them. A woman in white armor threw whoever was holding the camera to the ground.

 _"Get down!"_ she shouted, levelling her assault rifle at an unseen threat.

Then came the howl. An ugly, metallic sound that echoed even in the confines of the briefing room. The marines who were fighting stopped to gaze into the sky, and the camera followed their eyes.

Something emerged from shadowy clouds above them. Another metallic horn sounded, and the feed went dead.

"Reverse," Anderson ordered. "Hold at thirty-eight point five."

The image froze on the being passing through the clouds. Great metallic claws of black steel dangled from the heavens, laced with red lightning. It looked like something out of a cosmic horror film.

Silence descended upon the conference room. Nihlus' mandibles twitched.

"That's no Endbringer," Anderson said. "Behemoth was last seen on Earth, as was Leviathan. Only the Simurgh could be available to attack a colony, but her last attack was on Benning. Too far away."

"Could it be a new one?" Shepard asked.

Anderson shook his head. "We need to focus on the mission. Shepard, get a fire team ready for ground assault. We're going to retrieve that beacon with or without an attack."

"I'll meet you in the drop bay, Commander," Nihlus said, following Anderson out of the room.

Shepard looked back up at the screen. A new Endbringer.

The prospect was too horrifying for her to think about.

* * *

 **Codex Updated, Loading New Data**

 **Section: Humanity and the Systems Alliance; Subsection: Parahumans**

With the first documented cases occurring in 2120, parahumans, colloquially known as "capes" by the public, are humans that, through a process called "triggering," have gained what amount to superpowers. Parahuman abilities cover a wide range of potential powers, ranging from kinetic abilities such as the manipulation of fire and water to precognitive abilities that allow them to predict people or odds. Some, known as "tinkers," are gifted with the ability to design and build technology centuries ahead of what is currently known.

Many parahumans use secret identities to become heroes (or villains) in their home cities. The activities of heroes are helped by the Protectorate, an Alliance-run organization that provides legitimacy and aid to cooperating capes while maintaining oversight on their actions.

While the term parahuman applies strictly to humans, many extraterrestrial species have produced their own superpowered individuals. The first alien cape was the paraturian Saren Arterius, who triggered in battle during the Relay 314 Incident.

The golden-skinned being called "Scion" was the first documented Parahuman, who saved a sinking ship on Earth. He has since been seen on numerous human colonies, helping when he can.

 **Section: Humanity and the Systems Alliance; Subsection: The First Contact War**

The First Contact War, known as the Relay 314 Incident by the Turian Hierarchy, was a short but bloody conflict in 2157.

The contact began with a simple misunderstanding. Human explorers had been opening dormant mass relays for years under government-allowed mandate, a practice considered highly dangerous by Council-aligned races. When a human exploration group stumbled upon a turian military patrol after opening a relay, the turians attacked to punish the lawbreakers, destroying all but one ship. The surviving ship fled to the human colony of Shanxi.

The turians followed, laying siege to Shanxi's capital and outlying cities. However, the tide quickly changed when the city's local capes, led by the now-famous parahuman Alexandria, began a counterattack that devastated turian forces. After two days of particularly brutal conflict, Scion – the first documented parahuman – appeared and destroyed whatever remained of the turian forces.

The turians began mobilizing for a full-scale counterattack, and this caught the attention of the galaxy at large. The Council intervened, and forced a truce between the two sides. The war was solved peacefully, and brought humanity into the galactic community as a client race.

 **Section: Aliens: Non-Council Races; Subsection: Endbringers**

The Endbringers are a group of three superpowered beings (possibly parahumans) that first appeared on Earth in 2150. They are extremely powerful – making up some of the only known S-Class threats in the galaxy – and are fighting an unprovoked war of attrition on humanity. Over the last 33 years, they have killed approximately 4.7 billion people, and the number continuously climbs despite increased colonization efforts to escape them.

The Endbringers include:

Leviathan, a lithe creature with the ability to control water at a tidal scale. He often attacks coastal cities, and is responsible for the destruction of Newfoundland as well as the colony of Mindoir.

Behemoth is a hulking monster whose primary ability allows him to manipulate kinetic energy. Anything that enters a certain radius of the beast is instantly killed. He has wiped out multiple cities on Earth.

The Simurgh is a tall creature resembling a woman with countless wings. She is the only documented telepath and the most dangerous of the group. Those who she encounters often go insane after a period of time, and her telekinetic abilities allow her to decimate large areas very quickly.

When humanity began settling other worlds, the Endbringers followed. It is unknown how they are able to transfer between worlds, but they can do so with alarming unpredictability. All colonies have warning systems and evacuation plans in place in case of an Endbringer attack.

* * *

 **A/N:** Feel free to leave a comment! Even if it's not going to be continued, I'd like to see what you think. Thanks for reading! Have a Merry Christmas and a happy new year!


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